The Seal of Legion
by Syroc
Summary: A slight alteration in the preliminary fights of the Chuunin Exams has dire consequences for Naruto and Ino. One shot, no romance. A response to a challenge posed by Vaanarash.


**AN:** Whew, it's been a while since I started this story, but it's finally done. Thank god for that, now I can get back to my other projects.

This story was written because I saw an interesting challenge from the author of "**Naruto: The Specialist**", (which is awesome. Those who think otherwise are deeply and intrinsically _flawed,_) Vaanarash. While I've long since shed my fandom of The Wheel of Time series, (and most of my Naruto fandom, for that matter,) I reserve a soft spot for Matrim Cauthon. (It would be much more interesting for me if it centred on him rather than Rand the Moody Messiah.) Because anybody who has their priorities straight in a fantasy setting immediately gets the Syroc Seal of Sanction. That he can kick ass while doing so is the icing on the cake.

And cake is delicious.

Alas, I did not wholly follow the rules of his challenge. (I broke the second one, for those interested. I did so because I disagreed with what Vaanarash had outlined there in what he considered a memory.) But I regarded them more as outlines than things I actually had to abide by. If someone takes offense at this... then feel free to write your own story.

_This_ story starts out in the middle of the chuunin exams, just after the Forest of Death arc. Because, and now I utter the fateful words of doom: I had an idea. It was an interesting enough one that I decided to conveniently overlook my recent hatedom of the Naruto series. (It also throws out just about every god damned thing that came after that arc. Because I don't care what anybody says, Akatsuki was only _minutely_ interesting when it was first introduced.)

Also, no romance for you! Yeah, stick _that_ in your pipe and smoke it! Let's all step out of our comfort zones and try something else. There's _some_ insinuation in there for Ino/Naruto and Sakura/Naruto shippers, but not a whole lot else.

Lastly, this is pretty much one-and-done. I'm tired of long stories. They rarely end. You want more, yer welcome to swipe it and then continue it. Just try not to be horrible, and give a mention both to me (who wrote the damned story you want to continue) and Vaan (who came up with the initial idea).

**I do not own Naruto, nor any of characters. **I would certainly _like_ to, considering the great big sacks of cash Kishimoto must be getting. But that, alas, is not to be. Nor do I own the bible, from which the quote at the beginning of this story comes from. But it's only there for people to appreciate some irony at the end of the story in any case.

* * *

**The Seal of Legion**

_...And he answered, saying "My name is Legion: for we are many." – Mark 8:9_

The Forest of Death had, as Anko Mitarashi intended, winnowed down the genin of the various elemental nations down to much more manageable number. As the days passed, group by group trickled into the facility at the forest's heart. Once the third day had passed, groups of ninja had been dispatched to escort the remaining genin out of the forest.

But there were _still_ too many for the purposes of the tournament. Their number would have to be halved yet again beforethings could proceed.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, Hokage of Konohagakure, observed the genin as they lined up in front of him, each nation's representatives grouping together almost unconsciously. It brought a small smile to the wizened ninja's face to see that the whole of the 'Rookie Nine' had banded together. It was a triumph for the village that they'd all persevered in spite of forces arrayed against them, though he had faith that it was solely down to their own merits and not simple luck.

Of course, seeing young Uzumaki Naruto bicker and fight with teammates while their embarrassed jounin watched on from a distance was also worthy of a smile in its own right. Their squabbling faded and died as he rose, however. Everyone's voice lowered and then silenced, in fact. A roomful of eyes gravitated towards him as if he was the only thing of interest present.

There weren't many times that he enjoyed being the Hokage, but now was one of them. (Being the only person with a crystal ball that could, when the mood took him, peer into the misty territories of the kunoichi bathhouse was another.)

He gave them The Speech. And, even though he'd given it many times before, he had to admit that it was a good piece of work. Whoever he'd first commissioned to write it had done their job well, and it hammered home to these young ninjas just how important these exams were, not just to them personally, but to their homes. When he was done, almost every genin in the room looked ready to beat the life out of anything stupid enough to come between them and promotion.

Which was a shame, really, considering how many Konoha ninja there were. There would undoubtedly be a good deal of in-fighting amongst them. The thought almost made him sigh. The only thing that stopped him was the thought of how _awesome_ it going to be to watch it all happen.

He settled down into his chair, and gave a slight nod to Hayate, signalling the man to proceed.

* * *

Uzumaki Naruto could barely contain himself as the jounin explained the nature of the test. After what the Hokage had said, he was even _more_ determined (if such a thing were possible) not to fail, and to impress everyone with his skill. Especially Sakura.

In fact, he was so busy being determined that he completely missed what the jounin had to say. It was only when his teammates began moving away that he snapped out of his trance-like state of fierce resolve. He followed, trying to mask his mild confusion with confidence. Studying the others, he mimicked them as their heads uniformly tilted upwards to a pair of monitors where names were changing rapidly, divided only by a small sign that read "vs".

"_Oh."_ He said internally, suddenly relieved. Not _too_ complex, then.

He, along with everyone else, watched tensely as the names continued to flash, each wondering who'd fight first. It was a mystery that was quickly solved, as if the monitors had been programmed for maximum dramatic effect. (Which, considering some of Konoha's more eccentric personalities, was quite possible.)

**Yamanaka Ino** vs **Uzumaki Naruto**

The blondes both cheered in happy surprise at the pairing, both no doubt thinking it'd be an easy win. Both shot the other a glare as they realized just how similar their reactions had been, and just what it implied. All around them the rookie genin were letting loose quiet laughter or titters at them. Even the foreign shinobi were smirking at the display.

With a deep frown and a stubborn intent not to be laughed at the blonde boy stepped towards the proctor. His hands twitched into angry balls as heard a catcall from Kiba and the accompanying laughs that followed, and steeled himself against them. He'd overcome this, he'd show them that he _had_ changed since the academy.

With his trademark mischievous grin he leapt away from his teammates towards the ring, intent on showing his peers a fight they wouldn't forget anytime soon.

It was one of those funny little thoughts that were hilarious in afterthought, if only because they're so very horrible that the only other option is crying. Nobody would forget this fight, alright.

It was a fight that would change everything about them.

* * *

Ino danced away from the hail of shuriken even as she closed the space between she and her quarry, eager to get in close enough to use her clan's signature technique, the Shintenshin no Jutsu. She weaved through the furiously shouting clones of Naruto, easily moving past and away from their clumsy attempts to harm her even as she dispatched them as she could, the whole time keeping an eye on her true target, the original.

She'd been impressed when the 'dead-last' had tossed out a jounin level technique with only a single hand-seal, but when the smoke cleared she'd had to reign herself to prevent herself from gasping at the sheer volume of clones he'd created. How could such a loser manage to create that many clones? It was _freakish_. But she hadn't allowed herself to be overly deterred. She had to triumph, and impress Sasuke with her skill as a Kunoichi. Surely _that_ had to garner his interest, wouldn't it?

With that thought firmly in her mind she burst through the last clone in her way and began the chain of handseals that would allow her to claim victory.

Naruto was still surprised that she had managed to work out which one he was that he didn't even react when she latched a hand onto his forehead and suddenly collapsed.

She should have found herself in a vast, sprawling mindscape, a kind of literal analogy of a human mind to make sense of the madness that normally lurked in everyone. Subtle layers of consciousness, defining memories, the personal perceptions of others, they were all things that made up the mental landscape that she should have accessed. For most it would manifest as a forest, or perhaps a cave. Some were world-encompassing buildings, with galleries of living memories and rooms inhabited by various aspects of the personality.

Instead, she stood in the fetid waters of a sewer, steel bars of a cage in front of her and an impenetrable darkness sprawling behind them. This was _not_ how things were supposed to be, nobody's mind could be this terrifying, this desolate.

The dank water around her heels flowed slowly by, bringing with it bits and pieces of various flotsam.

"H, hello?" She called out, feeling a crushing fear settle in.

_Something_ stirred in that darkness, and though she could see nothing she suddenly felt like prey being stalked by an infinitely powerful predator. The insidious murderous intent was like a physical force (which, considering where she was, it probably was) that crushed the breath from her body.

And from the darkness beyond the massive bars a pair of impossibly huge eyes opened, gleaming with terrible light and sinister intelligence.

"**Greetings...**" Something rumbled, and its voice was the sound of screaming winds and the deepest depths of the ocean. It was old, it was powerful, it was more than a force of nature. It was a _god_. "**Come closer, mortal. Let me have a... Closer look.**"

Ino felt herself obey despite her terror, and with each stumbling step towards the barrier she took in more details inside the gloom. Fangs the size of trees, rough fur, and huge claws that-

- Slashed towards her in a blur of movement, stopping just short of her. The sudden movement startled her out of her daze, causing her to stumble backwards into the murky water where she scrabbled backwards desperately. Her breath came back to her with terrified gasps as the claws continued to smash against the bards in a wild attempt to capture her.

"**Come back, tasty morsel!**" The beast cackled, and now it pressed itself against the bars of its prison in an effort to reach her. The long snout full of vicious teeth snarled at her through the mettle, and the eyes were pure malevolence as they stared unblinkingly at her. "**Let me taste the sweetness of your blood and crunch the marrow from your bones!**"

Ino had no idea what was going on, and she wasn't sure that she wanted to know why Naruto had a monster like this inside his head, but she knew instinctively had to cancel her technique _now_, before some other nightmare ensnared her. If this was the first thing Naruto's mind had to offer her then she didn't want to know what else was lurking around waiting for someone stupid enough to keep going.

Terrified but determined, her hands began the sequence of hand-seals that would free her from Naruto's mind. As if sensing this, the beast renewed its efforts to reach her, still laughing.

"**Don't leave!**" It taunted, vicious fangs gnashing against the bars. "**Let me eat you!**"

She ignored it, though it was difficult to do with its claws drawing ever closer to her. They turned the filthy waters around her with their flailing. A moment later, much to her growing horror, one of those vicious hands managed squeeze through the bars and threatened to eviscerate her with a single swipe. Time seemed to slow down as they slashed through the air, the mad laughter of the caged demon growing wild as it realized it was about to catch her.

And then she was yanked backwards, hard. Ino had just enough time to realize that it was Naruto, his face fiercely determined and shouting something at the beast as he pulled her to safety.

Ino had no time to realize the magnitude of the mistake she had made in trying to enter Naruto's mind before she finished the last seal and felt her chakra stir, forcing her to withdraw from that horrible place.

She couldn't have known that she would be taking something with her.

* * *

Ino blinked her eyes as she came back into herself, her body stirring back into life. A quick survey of her surroundings confirmed that-

_- Those hateful stares were watching her from every window._

_All alone in the streets of Konoha with bleak grey skies above, he searched for others to play with. But everywhere he went the glares followed him, each one accusing him for a crime he could never know of. Parents gathered up their children and left wherever he went, muttering darkly under their breath as they did._

_It made no sense. He hadn't done anything to deserve this. Why did everyone hate him? What was wrong with him? Why did they call him a monster?_

Ino reeled from the sudden recollection, shaking her head as if it would clear the memory from her thoughts. A moment of fleeting panic seized her as a terrifying possibility occurred to her: Was she still in naruto's mind? Had he somehow managed to ensnarl her within his thoughts, lock her inside a nightmare? It didn't seem possible, but-

_- It was her face looking back at him, flanked by an uncertain Sakura. She was still a child, and the details of her face seemed to be a bit fuzzed up due to age of the memory._

"_Our parents told us not to play with you." She told him, without a care for her words. "They told us you're bad."_

"_No." He protested meekly, but they were already leaving him._

_And again he was alone. So very alone._

_Sakura had been his friend a few days ago, the one person who had played with him. And now she was gone, stolen away from him by someone else._

_But he smiled despite this. He grinned and beamed at the world, even though the rejection hurt so very much. He wouldn't let them know just how deeply their words cut him. He wouldn't let their casual cruelties hurt him._

_He was Uzumaki Naruto! He would make everyone realize how great he was!_

"Stop it!" She cried out, clutching her head. "Make it stop!"

She remembered that day, and not only as a hopelessly lonely young boy who had known only crushing isolation for the greatest portion of his life. She had _said_ those things, and had never thought back on it until just now. She had met Sakura not long before that, and from there their friendship had blossomed. It had been a treasured memory until now, when the unthinking cruelty of what she'd done was revealed to her. She'd stolen a friend from a boy who could have counted all of those who had treated him kindly on one hand.

It was made all the worse by the realization that she and Sakura no longer considered each other friends, but rivals. Sure, their interactions with each other could be considered something that at least resembled friendship, but it was a far cry from what it had been. What might Naruto and Sakura have had with each other if she hadn't interfered? What possibilities had she destroyed with her carelessness? And for what?

She didn't want to know these things. She didn't want to know what she'd unknowingly been a part of all her life.

She spotted Naruto lying prone on the ground, the proctor checking him for signs of consciousness. But the sounds and sights of the world around Yamanaka Ino were as nothing as she realized that she had unwittingly stolen the memories of Uzumaki Naruto, and now knew just what the village she'd grown up in was capable of.

The darkness that claimed her was a welcome change to the terrible memories of every person she had ever known shunning and hating her for reasons she didn't know.

* * *

Uzumaki Naruto and Yamanaka Ino were rushed off to the medical ward, though nobody could quite tell why it was necessary. The only thing they knew for certain was that Naruto was inexplicably unconscious and Ino had been freaking out just before she ended up in the same state. Needless to say, their match was a draw.

But there was one good thing to be said about being physically resilient: Naruto soon recovered from whatever Ino had done to him a few hours later, and found his team clustered around him with varying degrees of concern.

A groaned passed his lips as he stirred, wakefulness setting in.

"Naruto!" His pink-haired teammate gasped in relived surprise, rushing to his side.

"Nngh?" The blonde said intelligently, his thoughts moving like cold syrup.

He felt the embrace before he saw it, his eyes blinking lazily as sleep left him.

Confusion set in as he took in the unfamiliar surroundings, but there was something more than that... Something felt terribly wrong. He didn't know what it could be or why he felt that way, but there was a certainty inside him that extended all the way down to his marrow. Something was amiss.

After a few moments of startled silence the girl at his side pulled back, a tired smile on her face. Naruto peered curiously at her, wondering what was going on...

"Who are you?" He asked simply, not ungrateful for the sudden affection but subtly worried that he had no recollection of who the girl was.

Her eyes went wide, and she recoiled for a moment before concern crept into her features.

"I, I'm Sakura," she said uncertainly, studying him closely for signs that this was all a trick. "I'm on your team."

The boy stared hard at her, wracking his mind for some kind of recollection of her and drawing a complete blank.

"Uhm, are you sure?" He said uncertainly, feeling somewhat ashamed and frightened at his ignorance.

Certainly he _knew_ he had a fourth member on the team, but for the life of him he couldn't recall who it was. He remembered _talking_ to them, even. But what they looked or sounded like, their likes and quirks… These were things that escaped him. The fourth member of team 7 might as well have been anybody for all that he knew.

This couldn't be right, could it? The last thing he remembered saving Ino from the fox, though how _that_ had come to be he wasn't quite sure. One second they'd been fighting, and in the next he was moving through darkened sewers. Things were a bit murky after that, but that was normal. He suspected his brain found the Kyuubi so unpleasant that it would instantly forget most of their encounters just to spare itself the burden of having to remember.

Yes, he remembered the fight, and the forest...

But everything before that was something of a haze. Well, not so much a haze as a series of disjointed memories. Nothing seemed odd about that until he tried to recall more: How a conversation ended or began, pranks he remembered to have been great but not the execution, faces but not names and vice versa, and so much more. If Naruto's life could have been transcribed up to the present point in time, then it would be accurate to say that every other sentence had just been removed. He keep see the shape of most of his memories, but that simply wasn't enough.

A slow fear dawned on him, sinking into him like a heavy weight in his gut. What had happened? How had he forgotten so much?

"Is this some kind of prank, Naruto?" The girl, Sakura apparently, demanded. Her voice was tinged with anger.

Naruto felt a wave of inexplicable dread shoot through him, an instinctual reaction to the girl's wrath. Some rational part of him knew that he shouldn't be reacting quite so strongly, but the primal part of his brain hushed it with a metaphoric scream of terror. There was something _familiar_ about it all, but it escaped him at the moment. Regardless, he couldn't stop what tore out of his mouth next.

"Kakashi-sensei!" He cried out, the fire in the girl's eyes finally taking its toll on him. "Keep her away!"

Maybe it was the genuine fear in his voice that did it, but the girl's fury quickly dissipated in the face of the way Naruto was scrambling away from her.

"Naruto, can't you remember Sakura-chan?" The grey-haired jounin said, carefully studying the blonde.

"No! I said I didn't!" Naruto said loudly, though he was much more calm now that the girl seemed "What the hell is going on here? What happened to me?"

"Maa, calm down Naruto-kun." Kakashi said calmly, and it said a great deal about how convincing he could be that for a moment the three genin present thought that there might be a perfectly reasonable explanation for Naruto's sudden bout of almost-amnesia.

That moment didn't last.

"Calm down?" Naruto said, panic sinking in again. "I can't remember the fourth person on my own team, among other things! I want to know what the hell happened!"

"Getting angry isn't helping, Naruto." The elder shinobi admonished with a small frown.

"It'll help as much as staying calm! I might motivate someone to _fix this_ if I keep this up long enough!"

"Maa, but you're much less annoying when you're calm."

This earned the jounin a fierce scowl from the blonde, who promptly folded his arms across his chest and slumped back onto his bed.

"Hnn," Sasuke wore a smirk as he took in the new information. "I didn't think it was possible, but it looks like you've become even more stupid than before."

"_Oi!_" Naruto bellowed indignantly, snapping back up to glare at the stoic Uchiha. "This isn't funny!"

"Maybe not to _you_." Sasuke answered, his smirk widening just a little bit more. He knew it was petty of him to tease his teammate over this, but he hadn't been able to resist. Against _Ino_ of all people, one of the least capable in terms of combat, Naruto had not only failed to secure a place on the final bracket but had also come out of it significantly worse for wear. It seemed that whatever had happened in Wave that had allowed him to triumph over Haku had been a fluke after all.

The grey-haired jounin laid a hand on Sasuke's shoulder, silencing any further insult that the boy might voice against his teammate.

"Why don't we leave and let Naruto calm down a bit?" He said with a placating smile at the blonde. "Then we can try and figure something out."

For a moment it looked like Sakura might protest, as she was more than a little interested and worried about the condition of her teammate. But the way he watched her warily seemed to convince her that staying would only make him more nervous.

Naruto, for his part, was still too busy bristling at Sasuke's remark to realize that the last thing he wanted at the moment was to be alone. He was distressed, confused and more than a little worried about his future. After a lifetime of loneliness, the last thing he wanted was more of it in his time of need.

But when he finally _did_ realize this it was already too late. He was left alone with the silence of the medical ward. Alone with himself, and his fractured memories.

There had to be a way for him to fix this. It wasn't like memories could just _vanish_, after all. If they could, _someone_ would have mentioned it by now. _"I was going to be come, but then I suddenly realized I'd misplaced the memories of my little sister. So I stayed home to look for them."_ Or something to that effect. Actually, now that he thought about it he was kind of shocked that Kakashi hadn't tried to wave away his tardiness with an excuse like that.

So, they had to be in him _somewhere_. Where would they be otherwise?

* * *

Elsewhere, in a different part of the medical wards, Ino was trying very hard not to think of something that would bring to mind some of the more terrible things that had happened to Naruto over the course of his life. And wondering why the thought of Sakura made her blush.

* * *

All he needed was for someone to help him restore those memories to him. But who? He didn't know anybody who could manipulate the human mind on that level. Well, Ino might be able to help, but he was loathe to do so after his defeat at her hands. He didn't know anybody else that could help him with this.

Or, maybe...?

No, that wasn't right. He suspected he knew someone, or rather some_thing _that could help him. It had been with him all his life, after all. Surely _it_ would remember? And it would have to be interested in keeping him as stable as possible. After all, if he died then so did it. Probably. Hopefully.

It was worth a shot, anyways. It wasn't like there was a whole lot else he could do to fix the problem.

That led smoothly to what his next course of action would be. So far he'd only contacted the fox twice before. However brief the encounters had been, Naruto had felt the influence of it when the lives of he and his teammates had been in danger. First on the bridge, and then in the forest of death. Those times the fox had reacted upon his desperation and hatred, feeding him with the demonic chakra that had twisted his mind with its power.

He would have to build from there, he supposed. Something that threatened his life...

Naruto began taking stock of his surroundings, looking for something that might do the trick.

It should be noted that the suicide was the furthest thing from Naruto's mind when his eyes landed on his kunai pouch and remembered grimly how he had planned to purge his body of poison on their way to the Wave Country. Bleeding out was one of the messier ways of purging ones system of a poison, but nobody could ever claim he did things halfway.

Without taking his eyes off the pouch he lifted himself up and off of the bed, a plan forming in his mind.

He knew the fox would heal his wounds. It would take a while, sure, but it had a vested interest in keeping him alive.

His hand gripped the hilt of the kunai, and he eyed it warily as he brought it slowly to his wrist. He resisted the impulse to cut across, and instead prepared himself to drag it along his wrist. It would make bleeding out easier and faster, which would no doubt make contacting the Kyuubi all the easier. It was one of those handy little facts that had cropped up in his lifetime, though thanks to his distorted memory he no longer remembered _where_ he'd picked up the knowledge.

There was a moment of hesitation as he contemplated just what he was about to do. _Almost_ killing himself on purpose probably wasn't the greatest of ideas he'd ever had, after all. It was possible that there was a better way to go about this. Something that didn't involve draining his body of blood, maybe. But he just didn't know what else he _could_ do. If it wasn't this, then it would have to be something similar. Whether it was jumping off a cliff or committing suicide by stupidity by fighting some insanely overpowered ninja again, the end would still be the same: He'd be near death. And it wasn't as if there weren't any advantages to doing it now. He was close at hand to medical staff he could call out to for help if it looked like things weren't working as he'd planned.

He really hoped it wouldn't come too that, though. It was bad enough that he hadn't even managed to be a complete amnesiac. He'd hate to have 'failed at killing himself' added to that.

With that thought he pushed down with the blade and clenched his teeth to stop himself from crying out. It grew harder with each moment as he dragged the metal through his flesh.

'_If I survive this I am going to spend a day sharpening every one of these things.'_ The young blonde thought to himself as it became more difficult to force himself to continue in spite of the pain it caused him.

He managed to get up to halfway up his forearm before he lost the will to continue and let the kunai fall from his nerveless hands.

So much blood...

It coursed freely from the wound he'd inflicted on himself, and the way it just kept flowing amazed in a horrible, '_oh dear kami what did I do?_'-sort of way. It was only when you've opened up your own veins that you can truly appreciate how _horrible_ an idea that might have been.

Watching it happen made him feel faint, and strange top-heavy. His head suddenly felt incredibly heavy and ungainly, wobbling from side to side as he tried in vain to balance himself. Darkness crept in around the edges of his vision as he struggled to keep himself upright, and it was only when he felt himself crumbling to the ground that he began to suspect something had gone horribly wrong. It took him a moment to realize that it wasn't the sight of his blood that was affecting him so, but rather the loss of it.

The darkness crept in deeper, and a growing numbness in all his body left him unable to shout call for aid as he began to fear that this plan might not have worked out quite as he'd wanted it.

"**That was quite possibly the stupidest thing I've ever seen.**" A deep voice rumbled, and Naruto forced his eyes open, surprised that he'd closed them without knowing it. "**And I've been around for a **_**long**_** time.**"

Naruto stood once more in the fetid waters that flowed from the sealed beast.

Despite himself Naruto felt a surge of joy, realizing that he'd been _successful._ Sure, what he'd accomplished was _horrible_, something that was confirmed when looking at the monstrous, malevolent eyes that were watching him from the gloom of the cage, but it was a step in the right direction! If everything continued along the plan, he'd be back to normal!

Of course, the whole situation demanded a simple question that he'd never thought of before he started his master plan: how exactly does one go about asking one of the greatest of tailed beasts to restore one's memory? It was one of those things that seemed easy right up until you actually had to do it.

"**So, why am I tolerating your presence, you worthless monkey?**"

"I need something." Naruto stated simply, and because he was still riding high on his success he felt a sudden surge of rebellious inspiration. "And you're gonna give it to me!"

"**Refused.**" The demon retorted, sounding almost bored.

"I haven't even said what it is, you stupid fox!" The young shinobi shouted angrily at the thing.

"**I don't care.**" And now the thing stirred, shapes of darkness shifting as it drew closer to the bars. "**Fine then, amuse me with your pathetic request.**"

Naruto bristled at the condescension, and had to bite back a hundred insults before reigning himself in long enough to explain his request.

"I've lost some of my memories, and I need them ba-"

"**Refused.**"

"What the hell?" The words left his mouth before he could stop them, but even after they did the fury he felt for the thing did not abate. "This is all _your_ fault, dammit!"

"**Don't lay this at my feet, fool of a child. You did this to yourself.**" The demon said with a sneer. "**You let the female inside your head, and then you let her take pieces of you when she left.** **If they were so important to you, then you should have kept better track of them.**"

"Keep better track? How the hell was I supposed to do that? And what do you mean, she took them? How is that even possible?"

"**How should I know? It's **_**your**_** mind, as feeble as it is.**" It leered down at him, its lips contorting into a feral, demonic grin. "**You should have let me devour her. You'd have won the fight, I'd have had fun with her and the world would have one less of your dirty monkeys in it. Everybody wins!**"

Claws slashed against the bars of the cage, the thunderous _clang_ that came with the sound silencing any response Naruto could possibly make before he could give it.

"**But **_**no**_**. You had to save your enemy, and deprive me of a meal.**"

"Idiot!" Naruto insulted. "I _need_ those memories to survive! There might be something important in them!"

"**Like your stupid infatuation? Or maybe your abuse as a child? Perhaps your first failed flirtation with the opposite sex? No. I will not give these things to you. There is nothing of import in them.**"

"But I _need_ them! I don't remember one of my own teammates, parts of my own education are _gone_ and-"

"**-And none of those things are of any import. You'd be just as worthless if you had them as you are now. You should instead be thankful for what you have.**"

"No!" Naruto roared, and the indignant fury in his voice led him to say the fateful words that would forever change him. "You _will_ fill these gaps in my memory, dammit! I don't care if I have to shout at you for a year! I'll make it happen, _dattebayo_!"

Silence greeted this proclamation as the beast's eyes went from hateful gimlets to calculating slits that studied Naruto closely. The close scrutiny made the blonde nervous, though he did his best not to let it show.

"**Well, in that case...**" It said with great deliberation, a slow smile forming on that terrible face. "**Yes, I think I can agree to your terms.**"

"What?" Naruto said, surprised at the sudden agreement. "Why?"

"**Because I want you to **_**leave**_**.**"It said harshly, its tone turning dismissive once more."**Or do you **_**not**_** want to fill your empty memories?**"

Naruto was entirely too excited by his success to consider the curious wording the beast was using. It was a small thing, but small things have a tendency to become big problems when presented an opportunity.

"And you'll heal me too!" Naruto added in a rush, remembering what he had done to get to this place.

"**Of course.**" The demon agreed, the smile widening to reveal a row of vicious fangs. "**I** **can't let you die: I haven't destroyed you yet.**"

"O, oh." The boy said, taken aback by the sudden stream of agreement. "Well. I guess that's it."

"**Yes. Now **_**leave**_**, before I change my mind.**"

"Yeah yeah..." Naruto answered, and now he was a bit ashamed about what he was about to say. "Uhm, how do I get out of here?"

A loud sigh escaped the demon's mouth at this.

"**You really are the most worthless container I've ever had.**"

The walls of the sewer wavered and blurred, the dirty waters he was standing in faded away and then the red eyes of the demon fox winked out of existence. For a moment Naruto stood alone in a world of nothing, and then even he vanished...

... And snapped his eyes open to find that he was _back_.

Naruto blinked slowly, his eyes focusing quickly in the midday light that sifted through the hospital windows. For a moment he could only stare upwards, trying to sort out his thoughts. Had it worked? Had he really managed to get the demon to heal him, make him better? How could he know, really?

He thought back, tried to remember something he might have forgotten. Ninja Academy days, hours upon hours wasted while-

_- His brothers died around him one by one, screaming in pain and anguish as they tried in vain to hold the beast back. Their chakra poured into his body, attempting form a cage in which it could be bound. But the demon could not be stopped, and instead they wasted their lives for no reason. He had __told__ them to run, tried to make them leave him to this fate. There was no victory to be had with the beast. The best they could hope for was to delay it, postpone the destruction it would wreck upon the world._

_But they had foolishly believed they could stop it from escaping into the world, and now they paid the price. _

_He felt it shift inside him like some kind of huge, parasitic monster. Its chakra twisted his insides as it burst through the barriers that had held it in place for so long and the pain of it all made him shriek out in agony._

_He was burning from the inside out even as it tried to claw its way out of his flesh._

_And through all this, the fox's laughter rang out in what remained of his tortured mind._

"_**I am free again!**__"_

Naruto clutched his head in pain, reeling from the memory as if it had been a physical blow.

That couldn't be right, could it? He'd never done anything like that. But it was so _real_, so vivid! There was nothing about it that suggested that it was an illusion, no hint of alteration. It was _his_ memory, but at the same time someone else's.

He thought back once again, trying to find a different memory.

The first day he had met Iruka. He'd pranked the man for the way he'd glowered at him, and after-

_- After decades of fighting it, the strength to resist had finally fled her withered body. She had done what she could to stop the monster from having its way with the world: she had warned her kage, begged the assistance of many of the greatest warriors and ninja of the world, she had even travelled far away from civilization to minimize the carnage it could inflict before it was stopped and sealed once more._

_It shifted fitfully behind the bars of its seal, knowing that it would be free soon but also what she had done. It knew that she had done everything she could, not to stop it, but instead to inconvenience it. She knew that it knew she knew how much more irritating that would be for it. And that __almost__ made it worth dying for._

_Eventually, she allowed herself to finally give up, content that her life had been well-spent protecting her loved ones from the power of the beast. With an almost errant shrug she lowered her guard completely, allowed the beast to seize full control after so long a struggle._

_She felt little pain as the beast burst from her body in a violent torrent of chakra and evil, but she did hear its final words to the world:_

"_**I am free again!**__"_

More deaths paraded before him, each one as hopeless as the last. Some died fighting, some died after a long life of struggle, and a precious few died with some small amount of peace. But most of them died screaming and alone, abandoned by a world that scorned and hated them. They were Jinchuuriki, the power of human sacrifice, and as such they were no longer real people. At best they were tools to be used with care. At worst... Some of the deaths simply weren't worth the horror of remembering.

If he had been able to distance himself from the traumatic nature of the revelation he might have found a new appreciation for his own upbringing. Sure, things hadn't been _nice_ for him. But it could have been infinitely worse. It might have made him feel a little better for all of a moment.

But distancing himself from those terrible memories was the _last_ thing he could do at the moment as death upon agonizing death appeared before his eyes. The young ninja flailed wildly where he lay and screamed as his mind was filled with memories not of his own, remembering the thousand deaths of the containers of the Kyuubi. He remembered the agony as it tore his body apart, knew despair as laid waste to all he loved.

He tried desperately to block out the memories, but the trouble with that was he had no idea what might trigger them. They were _inside_ him, just waiting for some errant thought or action to remind him of some other grisly death. He tried to focus, tried to blind himself to the pain that the many deaths were causing him, but-

_- The birth of her child had taken more out of her than she could have guessed, and the demon knew it. She knew now why it had voiced no disapproval for Minato: It had known this moment would come, and wanted her to be as vulnerable as possible._

_How Orochimaru had known where to find her was a mystery, but somehow the snake had managed it and prevented Minato from applying the seals that allowed her to give birth in safety. And now, as the tiny life left her body, the beast stirred._

_A viciously clawed hand tore through her belly and sprouted upward like a demonic tree covered in blood. The scream was out of her mouth before she could stop it, her eyes wide in pain. In vain, she tried to grasp the arm and force it back inside her. Its chakra burned at her flesh like fire, while every hair on its arm was like a needle digging into her flesh, and her own blood made it difficult to find purchase on it._

_Blazing white chains erupted around her, encasing that the beast with the unnatural strength that came from being a container for the demon fox. They would only restrain it for a short time, but every second counted._

_Another shriek of pain tore its way out of her mouth as a second serrated arm ripped through the seal and freed itself. All strength fled her body as the beast began scrabbling loose of its prison, leaving her only with pain and regret. Not of falling in love with Minato, not of having his child, but instead that she would never have a chance to meet it. Her beautiful baby would never know its mother, all because of the demon fox._

"_Kukuku, it looks like my business is done here." The snake laughed before departing in a cloud of smoke._

"_**I am free again!"**_

Naruto was screaming, trying to hold down something that wasn't there anymore.

One by one, hundreds of deaths streamed past him, each one the same but subtly different.

The fox would always win. It would always break loose, no matter what sacrifice was given nor what power was brought against it. Eventually his body would wither and die, and the seal would fail. And then everything and everyone he had ever loved would be put in danger. Because it had been watching, and it had been waiting. It hated him more for every second that it remained chained inside his body, and it would go to great lengths to bring destruction to everything he'd ever had a hand in. Of that, Naruto was certain. There was no kindness in it, no remorse. There was only the intense malevolence, petty vindictiveness and unyielding fury.

The fox would get loose one day, and nobody could stop it. If luck was on their side, they'd be able to seal it away before it caused too much damage. And then another life would be lost to it, another child lost to the cycle of suffering that existed to keep it from breaking free.

A sob wracked his body as the hopelessness of his situation began to sink in.

He didn't even notice when careful hands steadied him and checked him for wounds. It was a pointless endeavour, as the fox had already healed him of all the damage he'd inflicted upon himself in order to gain those terrible memories. It would be far too pleased with its cruel trick to let him die yet. It would want him _suffer_ before that day.

Suffer like he had all his life. It made sense now, why it had never attempted to contact him. It _knew_ how much being alone hurt him, and it didn't want to ruin that.

Something inside him, a forgotten memory of a broken girl crushed by the depths of her despair, forced his lips into a sick smile. No, his life wasn't _nearly_ as bad as it could be. And that, at least, was something he should _treasure_ for the rest of his life.

Someone was dragging him to his feet, their voice worried on his behalf. Naruto looked down to see that he was covered in his own blood. For a moment he stood there, confused. And then he regained control of his faculties.

"I'm still alive." He said slowly, and forced himself to emote relief with this statement in spite of the deep despair that now lived inside him.

"Uzumaki-san?" The nurse said, obviously worried.

His smile was bright and sunny and as much a lie as the relief he did not feel.

"I'm alright." He reassured the woman, rubbing the back of his head as if embarrassed. "Sorry to worry you like this."

"Worry me?" The woman repeated dumbly, a deep frown forming on her lips. "You tried to commit _suicide_, Uzumaki-san!"

"Ahh, but obviously that didn't work out! I'm alright now!" He stated, chuckling softly. "And could you call me Naruto? I can't stand someone being so polite with me."

The nurse's frown deepened, and it was just now that Naruto realized that her grip on his wrist was very strong.

"No, Uzumaki-san." She said calmly. "I don't believe for one _second_ that you're fine."

* * *

What followed next was a prolonged period in Naruto's life in which he was forced to reflect on just how bad an idea even _attempting_ to kill yourself in a medical ward was. It didn't seem to matter what he said or how he explained his actions: the fact remained that he had opened his veins and then woken up screaming about dying. Claiming that he knew that his wounds would heal before they could be fatal didn't inspire nearly as much confidence as he felt it should.

It's very hard to be taken seriously after something like that. It was like they considered him crazy, or something.

Which, if he was honest with himself, he probably was. He spent most of his days cultivating a calm, blank state of mind that, if he was careful, resulted in him not remembering being torn apart by a demon from the inside. He'd learned very quickly that he would _have_ to do this if was going to retain some vestige of sanity. And it wasn't like he could _tell_ anybody about it, either. How would he explain it? '_I have to try very hard not to think about anything, or I might remember dying.'_

It was as if he had caught some terminal, slow-acting disease. A cancer of the soul, maybe. Each time his concentration failed and he remembered one of those who had come before him he was reminded yet again of what his fate was. The fox was a death-sentence waiting for the most inopportune time to happen.

Most of his days were spent very pointedly _not_ thinking about this. He put on his mask tried to put the medical personnel at ease and cursed the day that he had thought to ask the Kyuubi for help.

He had visitors, of course. His teammates would visit him from time to time, each of them wearing varying degrees of concern.

Sakura, ironically enough, was the one who seemed the most concerned for him. He wasn't quite sure what their relationship had been before he'd lost his memories of her, but he was glad for her sympathy at least. She seemed to be possessed of a dogged determination to be kind to him as he 'recovered', as if that might somehow make things better. He appreciated the gesture (if only because some niggling part of his brain informed him that an angry Sakura was to be avoided at all costs) but he knew better than to draw any real comfort from it. There was nothing she could do to help him, nothing she could do to stop what would inevitably happen.

Kakashi professed a kind of nonchalant worry, impossible as it seemed. He was at once concerned with how he was doing but at the same time incredibly interested in the perverted novel he seemed to be constantly reading. (Some of the memories demanded that the man be _punished_ for his open perversion. Well, demand was perhaps the wrong word. What he felt was something akin to a strong _need_ to reach into an unknowable dimension that inexplicably lay just behind his shoulder and draw forth a hammer with which he could use to beat the jounin into a useless puddle of goo. Naruto couldn't remember ever having an impulse like that before, so he had no choice but to attribute them to the newest addition to himself.) He listened carefully when Naruto spoke, as if he was silently evaluating him with each passing moment. Which he probably was, considering the situation his student was in. Naruto was certain that the jounin suspected something was deeply and intrinsically _wrong_ with him.

Naruto agreed with him, but couldn't say so. He wanted _out_ of this place, after all.

Sasuke, whenever there was time off from the intense training regimen he was receiving in preparation for the final stage of the chuunin exams that he could be convinced to spend with his teammate, merely seemed disappointed that the boy he had once considered a rival had fallen so far. And Naruto would have to agree that it certainly looked that way.

But surely _Sasuke_ of all people would have to realize how _important_ memories were. To lose a part of who you were, to forget someone you'd known all your life... that was a kind of wound there was no recovery from. Every day Sasuke remembered the pain of his brother's betrayal, every day he was reminded of what he had lost. How would _he_ react of those things had been taken from him? Or even a small portion of them? They were the focus points of his life: to lose a piece of them was to lose an integral part of his existence. If he forgot entirely, what exactly would be his reason to go on living?

The stoic Uchiha did not seem to consider this possibility, however, and so Naruto had begun to quietly dread the few times the two of them were together. As much as he hated the Uchiha, Naruto couldn't stand the thought of the boy being disappointed in him. They were _rivals_, after all.

The three of them were visiting him now, though. And the mixed cocktail of their company filled him with all kinds of feelings.

"Feeling any better, dobe?" The Uchiha asked with that tiny smirk of his. And with that came the unspoken question: '_are you done stabbing yourself?'_

Sakura seemed torn on whether she should disapprove of her crush's blunt question and admiration for his cool demeanour.

"Much better." Naruto answered calmly, and his mask smiled that carefully sculpted smile he'd worn for years.

"Are you sure?" Sakura asked, and the concern in her voice was enough to make him regret once more that he couldn't remember her. He was certain that she'd been important to him once, if the way she worried about him so was anything to go by. "You just seem... Different."

"I've lost a large portion of my life." He neglected to add that those portions had been replaced by the last parts of other people's lives. To be fair, though, he _was_ acting strangely. He was finding it strangely easy to force himself to calm down and really focus at the task at hand: not thinking. Sasuke would probably say something wry about that, so he didn't say it. "I'm trying not to think about it."

"Maa, it's kind of strange to hear you sound so calm while saying something like that." Kakashi commented, not taking his eyes from his book.

_'Punish him!/hurt him!/kick him where it hurts!'_ Naruto pushed the righteous female fury out of his mind, feeling more than a little worried that such thoughts were lurking inside him, waiting to spring on him at a moment's notice.

"Ehehe," Naruto forced the nervous chuckle out, looking more than a little abashed at the subtle jibe/joke.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura admonished harshly, before leaning in for a stage-whisper that people could hear from the next room if they were trying. "Don't tease him like that, he might change back!"

"Yes, very funny." Naruto said, a wry smile appearing on his lips. "Let's all make fun of the crazy person, eh? He's too busy hearing voices to listen."

Sakura's paled visibly at his words, seeming to misinterpret him.

"I didn't mean it like that!" She assured quickly.

"I wasn't being serious, Sakura-san." Naruto reassured her with an encouraging smile. "It was a joke."

The girl quirked an eyebrow at the polite suffix he'd applied to her name, but chose not to remark on it. He didn't quite know why he'd used it, but it felt strangely right to him. He should _always_ be polite to girls.

"Well, you seem to be doing much better than your were before." Kakashi said, slowly closing the book. The memories stilled themselves as the offending book was put away. "And just in time for the last portion of the exam, too."

"Ah!" Naruto said excitedly, his eyes widening in genuine enthusiasm. "Can I watch?"

The jounin's single eye turned upwards in that unique expression that conveyed a smile without without actually showing one. "I'm certain that something could be arranged. After all, I'm sure you want to see how much Sasuke's improved over this past month."

Naruto frowned slightly at that, but he was eager to get out of this place as soon as possible. And while it was likely that he'd be coming back after the exam, if he was able to keep things together then they would be forced to consider that maybe he really was better and release him.

That would be a start at putting everything back together, at least. He had to start _somewhere_.

* * *

Watching Neji win his fight against Kiba had left a sour taste in Naruto's mouth. It wasn't _right_ for him to triumph after what he'd heard had happened with his cousin.

Sakura had taken most of the time they'd spent waiting to get into the coliseum explaining patiently what had transpired in the preliminaries after he'd been incapacitated. She'd taken entirely too long to do it, however, so he instead summarized it thusly: Sand-chick beat panda-girl, Sakura got her ass handed to her by Kiba, Sasuke surprised nobody winning, Shino popped the arms off of the sound blow-hard, Shikamaru tricked his way into victory, the freaky sound dude with the weird gauntlet had done strange things to Chouji, some random foreign ninja was beaten by the guy with the cat pyjamas and makeup, Gaara also surprised nobody by being the ruthless monster everyone thought he was and Neji deserved to be beaten with a pointy stick everyday for a year for how he'd beaten Hinata. He acknowledged that he might be fuzzing over more than a few important details, but simply too much had happened for more than the bare bones of the fights to remain relevant.

Naruto found that he respected the brash young Inuzuka for trying to defend his teammate's honour, especially after Sakura had told him the boy had declared that his fallen teammate would be avenged.

Watching Neji proceed to take the other boy apart with condescending ease felt like a violation of all that Naruto held dear. It wasn't _right_! Neji was the _villain_! Kiba was the hero! The laws of dramatic rendition shouldn't allow Neji to win! Who would want to hear a story where the bastard won? Nobody! The noble, brave warrior was supposed to triumph! A moral was supposed to be learned: jackasses never prospered.

But no amount of disbelief and wishing would change what had happened. Instead Naruto made a note to prank the Hyuuga until the boy lived in terror of whatever indignity the blonde ninja could inflict upon him.

Watching Shikamaru and the puppet guy blithely forfeit their matches had done nothing to improve his mood, either. Naruto would have chewed out the Nara, but since he was forced to watch the matches as a spectator and not as a participant there was little he could do to stop the lazy boy from doing what he wanted.

And the bad feeling he still had in him from watching Neji triumph over all that was good and just only got worse when he realized that Sasuke had yet to appear for his match.

It was then that Naruto wondered what kind of terrible side-effect there might be from training extensively with their almost perpetually tardy sensei. While the thought of Sasuke picking up some of the more annoying quirks of their leader made Naruto frown, it carried a distinct the distinct possibility that it might also remove some of the stick that had been shoved up his-

"Alright, it's been a half-hour." The proctor announced loudly to a coliseum full of disappointed spectators. "I'm declaring this match for-"

He was interrupted by a sudden blast of smoke as someone

"Are we late?" The jounin asked, amusement in his voice.

Naruto sighed in relief. At least _something_ was working as it did in manga or the movies. He'd been worried that his carefully study of them as a child were about to be proven worthless, which would have upturned his world even more than it already was. He wouldn't know what to do in a world in which he remembered dying almost as much he remembered growing up and nobody had the common decency to adhere to the strict laws of dramatic narrative causality. (In which the words "That'd make a cool story" was one of the driving forces of the universe. Naruto's perception of reality was a simple one.)

He still lived in a world where the hero turned up at the last possible moment. (Naruto realized that thinking of Sasuke as a hero no doubt tortured the word into an unnatural parody of itself, but in comparison to Gaara, who maimed and murdered for his own sick pleasure, the term was certainly applicable. At least Sasuke hadn't gone into the deep end.) That in itself was almost enough to make the whole day worth it. Now Sasuke had to beat both Gaara and Neji, and maybe things could start getting back to normal.

"You almost were." The proctor stated with a small frown.

"Maa, sorry about that. My landlady needed help-"

"_**Liar!**_" A pair of shouts protested at the lame excuse in progress, bringing with it a wave of chuckles from the audience.

"Let's just get this done with, yeah?" The proctor said with a long-suffering sigh.

"Alright!" Kakashi chirped happily, and vanished in another puff of smoke only to reappear next to his students.

What happened next would quickly be forgotten in light of what happened afterwards, but not to Naruto. It would be an important moment for him, a time when he first realized that he wasn't the only person with a demon sealed inside him. But what was more, it was the first time that the Kyuubi's cruel assault on his mind would bring more than just pain. Indeed

As the match progressed Naruto found himself intuitively _knowing_ how the insane boy would react, what abilities he would use, how he would attack, the very shape of the battle unfolded before him. It was as if he had seen battle before, or at least watched the boy for a long time. He wouldn't be that far off. Several of his 'deaths' had been at the hands of other containers, and some of them had been quite heated. The ichibi's nature was such that it greatly influenced those it inhabited, so there was a great deal of consistency in its behaviour and techniques. Most people would not catch a pattern, but most people didn't have the memories of a few hundred deaths inside them. And Gaara was more heavily under the influence of the demon inside him than most of those before him had been, which made him even more predictable. The sand, as formidable as it was, was a crutch that nobody had thought or been brave enough to wean him out of relying overly on.

So when the red-haired boy was suddenly enveloped in a perfect sphere of sand, Naruto rose to his feet with an alarmed look on his face, instinctively knowing what was going to happen next. He leaned over the restraining bar of the stadium, trying to make himself heard as much as he could be the dark-haired boy.

"Get out of there, Sasuke!" He shouted with his eyes full of panic. "He's transforming!"

"Naruto?" Sakura asked, alarmed at his outburst. "What are you talking about? Are you alright?"

The blonde's warning went unheeded, however, as the Uchiha flashed through a series of handseals. The stadium was filled with the sound of a what could have been a thousand birds all chirping furiously as Sasuke's hand suddenly began to arc with lightening.

Naruto closed his eyes, unwilling to see what happened next. He'd never seen the technique Sasuke was using, but the way he was charging at the impregnable globe seemed to indicate a short-range attack. And Gaara was about to become a veritable titan of power, unless something could be done. Sure enough he heard Sakura gasp with a sharp intake of breath, presumably because Sasuke had torn through the outer walls of Gaara's defences.

A few short moments later there was a monstrous roar from the arena below, and Naruto unwillingly forced his eyes open. To his great relief Sasuke had managed to get away from the nightmarish limb that had sprouted from the gaping hole in the globe.

It should be noted that if the Sound/Sand Assault hadn't begun at that exact moment, the many enemy ninja at once performing powerful genjutsu that put a great many of the Leaf genin and almost all of the civilian populace present, Naruto would have acted then and there to help his friend. Never mind that it would be interfering with the exams or that it would likely wound the Uchiha's pride: there was no force on the planet that could have stopped him from fighting against the emerging demon that Gaara seemed intent to unleash upon the world. It was an impulse he couldn't really put into words or explanation. He'd simply _have_ to do it, and damn the consequences.

But both fortunately and unfortunately for all those involved, Naruto was caught up in the subtle genjutsu and fell into a light sleep, bent over the railing of the stadium.

It wasn't long before Sakura revived him, breaking his chakra flow with a none-too-soft prod.

Naruto woke with a start, and would have fell over the railing were it not for the absent-minded way Kakashi yanked the boy back to safety. The confusion the boy felt was soon pushed out of his mind when the gravity of the situation sank in for both Sakura and he: the village was under attack, Sasuke had pursued the sand siblings (the two elders had noticed their brother losing it and decided that it would be best for him to evacuate the area) and they would have to follow in order to back him up.

The blonde was pleased to note that Kakashi didn't seem too concerned that he would be a danger either to himself or his team, and seemed to believe that he would be able to help.

If he'd thought about it for a moment, he'd have realized that Kakashi would certainly have noticed the way Naruto seemed to have predicted what Gaara had done, and would have assumed that his _tenant_ would have offered some kind of insight into how the Ichibi container fought. Or maybe he thought that, despite his recent troubles, the whole of team 7 were much more likely to be successful than only Sasuke and Sakura.

Whatever his reasons, Naruto was glad to be chasing after Gaara. The need he'd felt before was still with him: he _had_ to fight Gaara, no matter what the cost might be.

His fervour was such that he didn't notice when his chakra began to flow through his body in unfamiliar ways, attaching itself in various points around his body and beginning to add power to each leap he made. He tore through the forest like an orange bullet, leaving Sakura and Pakkun wondering just _how_ the boy had managed such an incredible turn of speed while they tried desperately to catch up. It was a vain effort, however: Naruto's speed was far from natural.

He didn't even notice that he was no homing in on the Ichibi's container _without_ the aid of the summoned dog Kakashi had supplied them with to track. He simply _knew_ where the demon was. He couldn't have known that his chakra had begun to stimulate his olfactory senses to the degree that he could _smell_ the demonic taint of the Ichibi's chakra. Certainly he was aware of the sour, repugnant smell, but he simply didn't put the two together. He wasn't even aware of the way he was able to react with lightening speeds as he darted through the woods, able to bounce off or away from obstacles before he was even aware of what was in front of him. He was blinded by his purpose.

Instead, he focussed on what he what have to be done once he finally arrived. It was frighteningly easy for him: Arrive, find Gaara, beat the life out of him and then-

And then _what_, exactly? Plans that had previously seemed so _obvious_ to him now vanished like smoke in the wind, fading without a trace from his mind.

The memories abandoned him in that moment, releasing their tenuous hold on him. Control of his chakra-enhanced limbs and senses failed, and in a moment of pure, unrivalled terror Naruto smashed through a branch with a loud _–crack!-_ and continued smashing into various obstacles, eventually bursting into a small clearing. And he only stopped there because he'd finally impacted with the ground, rolling to a halt on the outskirts with a pained groan.

Upon hearing the sound of combat nearby, however, he quickly rolled himself onto his belly and pushed himself up to his feet, readying himself for battle.

Sasuke was already fighting when Naruto arrived, fending off the two eldest sand siblings while further away Gaara seemed to be completely losing it if the manic, murderous smile was anything to go by.

Something came over Naruto as he saw the insane boy in front of him seemed to morph as more and more sand converged on him. The earlier sense of purpose returned, though less pressing now. It no longer blinded him to the world around him, but instead put a fire inside him that could onlybe quenched after defeating the demon taking form in front of him.

Naruto leapt into action, a feral snarl appearing on his face as he crossed the distance between himself and the transforming jinchuuriki in a blur of motion. The sudden movement forced the thing he assaulted to turn to face him, a started look flitting across its features as it realized that not only was Naruto showing absolutely no fear of him, but there was something eerily familiar about the boy with the whisker-marks.

There was no time for the container of the Ichibi to try and process this as he was met by what certainly looked like a tidal wave of Naruto's, each one shouting in anticipation. The sand lashed out at them, crushing them in droves but never meeting any more than a brief moment of resistance before bursting into smoke.

"Blood, she wants your _blood_!" The insane boy shrieked, popping yet another clone inside a coffin of sand. "Only your blood will prove my existence!"

Naruto, watching the onslaught from behind the relative safety of his shadow clones, watched carefully for an opening in the seemingly impregnable defence that the bijuu offered. It did not take long, as a sudden inspiration struck him as he watched swathes of himself rush forward to die on his command. (Many of those familiar with the peculiarities of the shadow clone technique would be curious to know why the steady influx of memories in which he was crushed to death was having little effect on him.)

He summoned a new batch of clones, an even larger batch than the one he had used before, and without waiting for his orders they attacked the red-head en masse.

They coursed over the wall of sand, closing on the boy behind it with sheer numbers. The boy paused only for a second before his sand moved once more to defend him.

And then all the clones burst at once, filling the air with their chakra-laden smoke and blinding the jinhuuriki. Something inside that sudden cloud moved, and the sand-armour shifted as it blocked a barrage of kunai.

Unable to see the blades as they impacted, Gaara never had a chance to see the explosive tags tied to the weapons.

They detonated with exquisite power, and though the armour took the brunt of the damage Naruto was pleased to note that Gaara was noticeably limping.

"Pain," The insomniac boy said in disbelief, his eyes wide with sudden fear. "It hurts! _Mother! It hurts!_"

Naruto seized upon the boy's panic like an angry pantheon of gods, three of him appearing around the boy and launching into a series of blows that ended with Gaara launched high into the air, a stunned look of incomprehension locked onto his face as his sand crumbled around him and more of that terrible pain set in.

"_U-zu-ma-ki Naruto combo!_" Naruto shouted as he put the last touch to his improvised assault, taking a leaf from both Sasuke and Lee's Big Book of Ass-Kicking and sending Gaara back to the earth with destructive force.

The ground cratered around Gaara when he smashed down, throwing up a cloud of dust and sand as he impacted. For a moment there was only silence as everyone watched in shocked silence, silently disbelieving that _Gaara_, the boy who had terrorized an entire village and almost the entirety of the genin participating in the chuunin exam, had been beaten by the blonde idiot who had been washed out in the preliminaries.

It defied logic.

Naruto landed on the ground with a wide grin on his face, pleased that his plan had turned out so successful.

"_Not enough...!_" A low growl emerged from the cloud, dispelling some of the good cheer Naruto was feeling after completing the move he'd been thinking of for so long. "_I need more!_"

Naruto threw himself to the side on instinct, barely managing to dodge a horrifying parody of an arm as it tore out of the cloud of dust. The terrifying limb crushed a tree in its path, spraying deadly shards of wood and sand as it impacted.

The sand siblings were gone, fleeing as soon as they heard the change that had come over their brother. Sasuke, unnerved by unwilling to let his enemies leave unmolested, had pursued them. He hadn't felt much compunction against leaving Naruto to fend for himself: after all, he'd managed to get off a combo on him once, hadn't he? How hard would it be for him to do it again?

Naruto was left alone with the demon, but somehow that didn't worry him. It made him feel... excited, somehow.

"_Mother wants your blood!"_ The unearthly shriek wailed, and from out of the haze the Ichibi emerged.

Or rather, what looked like it. The thing was still too small, too weak. Its container needed to relax its hold on it even more for it to reach the pinnacle of its power, something that the insane grin fixed on that fractured face seemed to indicate was about to happen.

His hands came together to form the ram handseal, and then that twisted leer widened.

"Feigning sleep technique."

The change that came over the boy was instantaneous: His body went limp, falling forward without warning until the writhing mass f sand that enveloped him seemed to catch his fall. The change that overtook the sand was just as swift, as the mass that even now devoured the jinchuuriki up to his waist in sand was even now growing at a horrifying rate. It was not long before Naruto was standing in front of a titanic monster, the demon that Gaara had been born to keep on a leash.

"**Yes!**" The demon jeered, its gaping maw showing great teeth of sand that were bigger than many of the _trees_ that surrounded it. "**I am free again!**"

The words sent a chill down Naruto's spine, calling up the hundreds of times he'd died trying to keep the demon inside him from escaping. No, the hundreds of times _other people_ had died! He was still alive! He could still fight!

Yes.

That's right. He hadn't died yet. He still had a chance.

Naruto watched the monstrous apparition with a detached fascination, his body paralyzed as the thing grew. He knew he would have to act soon, that he would have to do _something_. But memories danced inside his skull, tantalizing him with their stolen knowledge. It was in that moment that Uzumaki Naruto made the most important realization in his life.

There was more than just death in those memories. There was more than pain in the past.

Maybe the Kyuubi _hadn't_ thought out its cruel trick out as far as it should have. It seemed likely, as a slow revelation dawned on Naruto that in all the deaths he remembered, in all the suffering he now carried inside him, there was also a potent hope. The Kyuubi had given him the deaths of all of the containers that had ever resisted him in an effort to show him how hopeless his situation was. It had tried to push him into despair so deep that he would give up any kind of struggle before he ever gave a thought to making one.

But there was also a deep hatred in those memories. It was a hate that transcended mortality and grew inside the hearts of each and every one of those who were forced to carry the beast inside them. It had pushed hundreds to never give up despite their burden, it had motivated many to find ways to _hurt_ it and it had given birth to a thousand different ways to defy it.

Hundreds of lives had been given to seal the demon fox away, and almost all of them had died struggling against its evil. And in their deaths they had used everything they knew could hurt the demon in order to prolong their lives just a little bit longer. Whether it was insights into the beast's mind, techniques that had contained it or weapons that could wound it, everything they could muster had been used against it.

And now he knew _everything _they had.

Every bit of sealing that could contain the strongest of the tailed beasts was his to use, every technique that could bind their kind were his and several lifetimes of crystallized knowledge of their nature was known to him. And what's more, the deep hatred that had welled up over generations was now his as well.

Perhaps it was true that it was only through protecting others that one could grow truly strong. But it was equally true that it is a _lot_ easier to use every ounce of power one possessed in an effort to destroy something one hated. And at the moment there was nothing that Naruto hated more than the tailed beasts.

Whether the demon fox had realized it or not, it had created its own worst enemy in giving him despair. It had given him an enemy to strive against with every fibre of his body, and every possible weapon he'd ever need in his struggle.

In the moment he realized the full magnitude of what had been done to him, the dream of becoming Hokage was set aside. There was a higher loyalty in him now, an even greater dream for him to achieve.

He would destroy the nine tailed beasts, even if his life ended in the process. Never again would anybody have to carry a demon inside themselves to protect others. It was the only goal that the hundreds of deaths that now lived inside him could accept from him, the only thing that made any kind of sense to them.

And he would start _now_.

Without quite being conscious of what he was doing his hands danced in a series of unfamiliar hand-seals, but though he didn't know them he knew what they would produce he was confident that it was _exactly_ the sort of thing he needed. The thought made him smile.

"Earth Technique: Blood Of Fire!" He cried out, and leapt high into the air.

The strange way he'd said the technique alone was enough to make the beast give pause. It didn't sound anything like the bouncy, energetic blonde that had boasted so proudly of protecting its friends before. And then the beast was writhing inside of Gaara, trying desperately to force him into action.

But it was already too late.

As Naruto fell back down to the earth his hands began to blaze with chakra, the incredible condensation of it causing the air around them to take on a radiant blue glow. The wild, triumphant grin on his face was worrying enough, but when combined with that unnatural glow it became very menacing indeed.

The blonde brought his fists down on the ground with such force that the earth cratered and cracked around him. The tremor that followed the blow was enough send the massive beast staggering for a moment before it regained its balance and lurched forward to snuff out the threat before it could do anything else.

But around Naruto, from the gouges in the ground, a sea of molten rock flowed. The air around it _burned_ with the heat of it, fires dancing into life around him as it expanded and claimed more land. It was not long before the blonde was surrounded by an uncrossable blaze, standing like some kind of infernal lord in some abyssal nightmare-world. Fire and heat distorted his surrounded, but his bright colours made him easy to made out in spite of this.

Despite the insanity of it, despite knowing full well that with the temperatures needed melt stone were enough that even being _near_ the stuff was enough to kill, Naruto bent down and reached a hand into that hellish inferno.

And then it was _moving_, flowing around him like some kind of giant, burning, amorphous monster. It lifted him off the ground as if the burning substance were no more harmful than, say, pillows.

It was only when he withdrew his hand from the burning substance and revealed the charred remains of his hand that the truth of the matter was revealed. That should have been enough to break anyone's concentration, but the blonde merely stared at the ruined limb with cool detachment as, impossible though it seemed, the burned flesh cracked and tendrils of flesh snaked out and reattached themselves to the bone.

The pain was a thousand times worse than anything he had ever experienced, of course, but happily one of the effects of the technique was a powerful anaesthetic effect on him that allowed him to distance himself from that pain. He felt the pain, yes, and knew in a clinical way that if he for one moment faltered with this technique he would die screaming, drowning in a sea of liquid fire. But it was as if they were happening to someone else, someone who also happened to be him but not quite.

All the more important that he didn't struggle against these memories, in that case. He would have to allow himself to be guided by them.

The Kyuubi's chakra burned through his body like a fire, the seal ripping the stuff from the beast without give it any choice in the matter. Naruto didn't know _how_ that could be, but he suspected that something inside his head did. If that something wanted to help, then they were welcome to it.

His hand reformed itself from the demonic chakra that had been stolen from the fox, perfectly unmarred by the ruinous damage he had inflicted upon it only a few moments before.

With cool satisfaction he looked upwards at the towering demon that seemed to cower slightly before his wave of fire.

It knew what he could do with this fire. It knew that its sand was worse than useless: it would only feed that growing destruction. No amount of wind would cool the flow of magma, but would instead fan the flames that burned around it even higher. And the wielder of this fearsome technique would be too drenched in demonic chakra to be more than slightly inconvenienced by having his flesh roasted.

It was a technique developed by Kenchi Ryuudo, a container of the Kyuubi who had been the only person to simultaneously hate both himself and the world around him enough to create a something so terrifyingly destructive. He'd died fighting against insurmountable odds, roaring out his defiance even as the technique devoured his body and freed the beast he had used to protect himself. Unsurprisingly, it had never been used again. It had fallen into legend and then obscurity, and finally forgotten. Nobody would ever dream of using it.

Until now.

Naruto rode that wave of molten earth, concentrating his chakra around his feet so as not to fall victim to his own technique. It moved with surprising alacrity, twisting through the air like some kind of infernal snake. The Ichibi had little chance to escape from his fiery onslaught but it made the effort anyways. It leapt away from his advance, but the liquid stone splashed forwards without regard, craving out swathes of destruction through the forests of Konoha as it did.

It didn't take long for the demon to be overtaken by the flow, and like a snake Naruto twisted his technique like a snare around the demon's legs and waist, trapping it in his fiery embrace.

And snake was exactly the right word to use to describe it. As Naruto moved from the place he had first created the flow of liquid stone it took on a cylindrical shape, coursing across the ground with an upraised 'head' upon which Naruto stood, imperiously surveying his battlefield.

"**No!**" The beast wailed, trying to try out of the incendiary technique but resulting only in ensnaring itself further with each movement. Globs of melted sand, liquid glass, fell from it with each movement. "**I can't be beaten like this!**"

With more panic than foresight it smashed a massive paw against the burning snare, serving only to make it bite deeper into itself, bringing with it a fresh torrent of glass.

Naruto ignored the demon's squirming as much as he could, instead focusing himself on making a gradual climb up the thing. It was difficult, as he only had so much magma to manipulate, and keeping it hot enough to flow _and_ defy gravity demanded more chakra than he cared to think about. He just wanted to finish the fight as quickly as he could, and then set about making sure it could never happen again.

With the Ichibi, anyway. The other seven would have to wait their turn, and then he could turn his attention to his own demon. Let it never be said that Uzumaki Naruto lacked for ambition.

Naruto finished his slow rise along the demon, finding the spot he wanted, just above the centre of it. It was here that the greatest amount of damage could be wrought, where he could _destroy_ this ting.

He turned and ran down the flow of lava, rushing through a sequence of seals as he did so. Chakra blazed around him as he moved, readying itself for the final blow against this monstrosity. But before that, he had to get as close to the ground as possible. He didn't want to be nearby to what was about to happen.

He finished the last seal, and paused in his mad dash just long enough to jam his hand once more into the burning mass below him, shouting out his technique and then leaping out into the open air.

"Earth Technique: Heart of Fire!"

As Naruto jumped the burning earth upon which he'd been standing began to surge with his renewed burst of chakra. The head of the flow jammed itself straight into the Ichibi, dragging along with it the rest of the magma trail. It buried itself deep inside the Ichibi, burning it away from the inside out.

Naruto could appreciate the irony of that. Many of those he remembered had suffered through a similar fate, after all.

The fell construct collapsed as the demon lost control of its body, falling apart slowly at first but much quicker towards the end, huge clumps dropping away leaving trails of fire through the air as they fell.

Naruto landed on a tree, and from that canopy he watched, waiting for the moment in which he could rescue Gaara from a blazing end.

It would not do to defeat the Ichibi only for it to be released with Gaara's death, after all. A more permanent solution would have to be applied to the boy before he could be considered safe.

Naruto spotted his moment as the head of the Ichibi broke free from the body, the boy encased there still unconscious. In that moment he launched himself from the tree, moving with every ounce of speed he could muster.

Because the moment the head separated from the body, the form of the Ichibi lost any resistance it had to the inferno that blazed inside it. It burst apart in a rain of fire, showering the earth below with obsidian and glass. Soon the ground below would be a wasteland of volcanic and mundane glass, devoid of life where his technique burned away the vegetation. And landing on the smouldering ruins of the landscape would _not_ be conducive to a long life in any shape or form. Even if the boy managed to land on a miraculously cool spot, it was still _stone_. He'd be squished like a tomato.

Which would free the Ichibi.

And as much as Naruto was savouring his current victory, he _really_ didn't want to do anything like that again. Just the thought of having to watch his arm regenerate yet again sent shivers down his spine.

So instead Naruto soared across the open air, propelled by the force of his leap, and rescued Gaara from his sandy prison with little effort before realizing that without the red-head to stabilize the sand it became _very_ hard to get away. It loosened under his feet, preventing him from getting enough purchase to leap to safety.

Naruto cursed loudly as he realized what was about to happen next and braced himself for the worst of it, dragging out as much of the kyuubi's chakra as his body could handle. It wouldn't help a whole lot, and if he kept it inside him too long it'd poison both himself and Gaara, but there was no way in hell he could survive a fall from this high up into the raging inferno below without the protection being the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi afforded him.

Even with the precautions he'd taken, Naruto's legs still broke when he landed. Luckily the sand he'd been standing on had protected him from the worst of what could happen. There was at least a _little_ cushioning, and the fires that had been blazing merrily before the sand landed on it had been smothered. Granted, he would have to move soon or there was a risk he'd be encased in melting sand. And that would be agonizing.

So, despite the protestations of his lower body, Naruto freed himself of the sand and forced himself to stand, knowing that the Kyuubi's chakra would eventually take care of things.

Until then he would just have to deal with the awkwardness of trying to walk while his bones kept trying rearrange themselves beneath him. There was a great deal of limping and cursing involved, but eventually Naruto found a spot that seemed relatively safe. The stone beneath him was warm, but cool enough to touch without regretting it. So he set down his bundle and lay down, hissing under his breath as the demonic chakra healed the worst of his wounds. He could _feel_ the stuff tearing away at his insides even as it healed the damage it created.

It took almost fifteen minutes of feeling like he was being ripped apart from the inside out until he decided that healed or not, he had to finish this before Gaara came out of his self-inflicted stupor. He bent upwards in spite of his joins groaning in protest and forced himself to stand, wincing at the pain it brought him to do so. He obvious hadn't quite managed to heal completely quite yet, but there wasn't enough time for him to waste anymore. He'd have to deal with it and then hope to ever kami that could hear him that he was taken to a hospital as soon as possible. While it was unlikely they'd be able to help any more than the Kyuubi would, they _did_ have soft beds and were capable of setting bones.

Naruto stood alone in the heart of that ruined landscape that burned with his dying technique, leaving a plateau of charred tree-trunks and razor-sharp obsidian and patches of sand. Well, not completely alone. Laying not far from him was the still-unconscious form of Sabaku no Gaara, the container of the Ichibi.

He momentarily searched his memories for something suitable for his purposes, wracking his mind for something that would do the trick. It was in that moments that he recalled the final moments of Kenshi Akake, one of the ancient containers who'd died when in a moment of weakness he'd given in to the fox and activated the seal he was about to recreate.

His hands blurred into unfamiliar handseals, and strangely enough he found himself speaking in a tongue he couldn't quite comprehend. _Something_ inside him did, but it was too dead to be of any use. Whatever they meant, they were effective. What remained of the fox's chakra was forced out of his body and into his surroundings, preparing them for the arrival of... something. Naruto wasn't too sure what it was, but he was relatively certain that if it could screw with tailed beasts then it was something he didn't want to mess up the summoning of. It might be angry, and then he'd have _two_ supernatural entities trying to kill him.

* * *

Sasuke Uchiha had been fighting the sand siblings ferociously when the first fragment of flaming sand had splashed onto one of the puppets, startling the hell out of everyone present as the flames quickly spread.

A silent cease-fire had soon followed so that they could find out just what the hell it was that was going on back in the clearing.

What they'd seen was... impossible.

Sasuke himself would be the first to admit that. And probably the second and third as well.

The thought that _Naruto_, the dead last of their class, was capable of the kind of cataclysmic power that he was now witnessing, struck him as unnatural. But there was no mistaking the orange-clad blonde as he stood alone in a sea of fire and stone, a wasteland of burnt out trees, obsidian, glass and sand. No doubt ninja from the village would soon be arriving, in spite of the assault, just to put out the fires that whatever technique Naruto had used had created.

But now he stood alone, his hands moving rapidly in handseals Sasuke had never seen before. His sharingan copied them quickly, but without the whole sequence they made little sense, less so considering that he still didn't know whatever it was Naruto was hoping to accomplish with whatever it was he was doing with them.

After what seemed like an eternity of waiting, whatever technique Naruto seemed to have been preparing was ready, as he hands rested in one last seal and he raised his voice so that everyone could hear. Sasuke wished he hadn't, as it did unfortunate things to his mind to hear the altered voice of Naruto.

"**Bladed Promise Seal!**"

Everyone could hear the voice of Naruto, but it was unnaturally powerful at this distance. It was a voice that did not come from mere flesh, but instead from something that stretched beyond the mundane and into a place where the impossible could and did happen. A place where gods and demons walked.

And something answered.

* * *

Behind Naruto the obsidian shattered and exploded, the thousands of shards swirling into the air on spectral winds. They came together into a vaguely humanoid form, though it was difficult to make out anything more than that from the distance they were watching. It looked like a person made wholly out of points and blades, though. It was a creature whose merest touch could eviscerate.

It threw back a glittering head and let loose an unearthly wail that caused those who heard it to clutch at their ears in an effort to block out the sound. It was like metal being dragged across a chalkboard, but a thousand times worse. It was a sound that tortured the air it moved through and caused physical pain in those that heard it.

Gaara was surrounded by what looked like swords of every possible shape and make, from the humble kodachi to foreign creations that bent and twisted in strange ways. They were in such close proximity to the Ichibi's container that, had the boy been able to, the slightest movement would have resulted in being pierced by one of the many points.

Naruto released his seal, knowing that at the Ichibi wouldn't be a threat to anybody any more. Not if it wanted to avoid a death of a thousand impalements. And it would know it, too. The seal had been used against it before.

It had been a popular way to make sure that jinchuuriki didn't get out of hand, generations ago. Demonic chakra would trigger the seal to summon those swords once more. And then they would tear the poor person inside apart while at the same time forcing the tailed beast to boost its regeneration efforts as greatly as they possibly could. It was a slow, agonizing death.

Of course, the bijuu would be free at that point, but much of its power would have been absorbed by the many blades that had destroyed its container. It would take some time before it could recover sufficiently to become any kind of threat. Only the most powerful of the tailed beasts possessed enough chakra to remain a threat even after the Bladed Promise Seal had used their own power against them.

It had fallen out of use when the practice of considering jinchuuriki as weapons had started. After all, why waste all the potential destruction of a _demon_ when there were enemy ninja running around? Why spend time ensuring that any smart demon would never _dream_ of trying to escape when they could instead develop ways to direct it at an enemy?

The thought made Naruto furious. Yes, the seal was horrifying. But it had been _effective_, and better still it had given most of those unfortunate enough to be caught nearby when a jinchuuriki lost control a chance to escape.

And sending jinchuuriki into battle with the deliberate intention of having them fight just seemed reckless to him. What if they were killed? What would happen to the demons they carried then? They couldn't be killed through any but the most extreme of measures, so risking their containers all but guaranteed that they would eventually be freed. At that point the only that could be done was hope the demon stayed too busy destroying their enemies to stop them from sealing it into a new container.

Naruto shook his head, freeing his mind from the angry complaints of the older memories, who viewed the containment of demons as something of a sore subject. Well, more sore than the later ones, who usually either considered it a curse mixed in with a fraction of blessing, or went insane and committed genocide a few times before being killed.

The _important_ part was that the Ichibi wouldn't dare to try to influence its host anymore, not if it wanted to avoid becoming a pincushion, have its power drained and then be sealed _again_. And the Ichibi was nothing if not selfish. It would no doubt decide that it would be better simply to wait until its current container was dead and then hope to whatever fell deity it worshipped that Naruto wasn't around to make another Bladed Promise.

The blades _seemed_ to stab inwards at the unconscious boy, but their nature seemed just unreal enough that the moment they touched his prone form they were simply absorbed into it. Somehting in the back of Naruto's mind whispered to him that the boy's skin would be a criss-cross of various stylized blades and symbols, permanently burned into him until the day he lost control and the beast, in a moment's lapse of judgement, tried to exert its will over him and sealed both their fates. If there was enough skin left over to look at, anyone would no-doubt notice that it was strangely absent of the markings that Naruto had given him today.

The creature of blades behind him wailed out once more before it crumbled, leaving in its wake a pile of broken shards and serrated edges.

Naruto, satisfied that he had done everything he possibly could have, promptly collapsed in a heap as chakra exhaustion finally caught up with him.

* * *

Yamanaka Ino hadn't discerned herself during the invasion, as she hadn't fully recovered yet from the shock of suddenly possessing the memories of someone else. She'd asked her father about the matter, who'd told her that while uncommon it wasn't unheard of, and that if she wanted he could help her in returning them to their rightful owner.

She'd been so relieved at that when her father had continued by saying that she would have to wait until Naruto got out of the psychiatric ward until they would be able to do so she almost didn't realize what he was talking about.

She'd never stopped to consider how _Naruto_ might be coping with the situation. As traumatic as some of the memories were, as horrible and painful as it was for her to see them, they were a part of him. A very _large_ part, apparently, because the same day he'd woken up from her technique he'd apparently tried to kill himself.

Guilt is a terrible thing to have on one's mind. It can make looking back _really_ uncomfortable.

Her father was disappointed in her for just had spectacularly she had failed her technique. She should have known better, she should have been and done a thousand things differently in order to avoid the almost-death of one of her comrades. At the very least she should have alerted someone sooner.

After the invasion had been an ever _worse_ time for what Ino had hoped would already be solved by then. There were so many wounded and casualties that every ninja was working around the clock to keep the village strong. And that meant her father was around to help her in what she so desperately needed to take care of, not that she'd worked up the courage to talk to Naruto about what had happened.

But she _had_ talked to Sakura a few times when they'd met up. With Naruto's acute sense of loss stuck inside her head Ino had felt it was more than a little petty to cast aside a friendship for a boy who may or may not even know she existed as more than an annoyance. There was nothing like the crushing loneliness of a child to put things like that into perspective. And what she'd heard from the pink-haired girl worried her more than a little.

Naruto was... different.

He'd always had a certain bouncy energy about him, as if he was about to run around the village at full speed and then ask Sakura for a date. It was annoying, but it was part of his charm. His obnoxious, idiotic charm.

But ever since he'd tried to kill himself there was an unnerving focus to him. Like he was just waiting for something to happen, and when it he was going to make it regret that it had had the nerve to happen around him. At first Sakura had been certain that he was just recovering from whatever it was Ino had done to him. (At that point in the conversation Sakura had glared accusingly at the blonde before continuing.) And then she'd been certain that he was simply trying to make the best of a bad situation.

But then she'd seen the carnage he'd inflicted upon Gaara and the surroundings.

Everyone knew of the way he'd single-handedly beaten the lumbering beast that had been the Ichibi. Everyone knew that he'd somehow sealed the thing away so securely that the boy it had been contained inside had been more than a little unhinged at its sudden absence.

But only the elder generation of shinobi suspected they knew what Naruto had done. Well, and Ino.

She had come face to face with the thing, after all. She didn't know exactly what it was, but it wasn't the kind of creature that gave out hugs to orphans. No, the beast that lurked inside Naruto was of the kind that devoured said orphans, then went about creating some more.

Something evil lurked inside of Naruto.

And now she was afraid that her actions had set it free.

It was as if the universe had decided unanimously that she and no-one else should be held responsible for whatever destruction Naruto took it upon himself to inflict upon the world around him.

For that reason, Ino was now looking for Naruto. It had been almost a month after the invasion, and she knew that the other blonde was back in town after his mission to retrieve the new Hokage from wherever it was she'd been hiding.

Fate was not without a cruel sense of humour as just moments after she resolved herself to her search Uchiha Sasuke, who had been nursing a heavy case of envy ever since he'd witnessed the destruction Naruto had wrought in his battle against Gaara, decided to defect to Otogakure, and was even now leaving the boundaries of the village with an escort of the Sound Four.

She knocked on the door of his apartment, feeling more than a little nervous at doing so. Would he be angry with her for taking his memories? Would he refuse to see her? Would she even be able to give back what she'd taken without the help of her father? Or would she instead end up taking even _more_, and end up wounding the both of them far more than she'd imagined possible.

But when Naruto opened the door a moment later and greeted her politely she felt more than a little silly for feeling that way. This was _Naruto_, after all. For all that he was a bit thick and possessed of a mischievous nature, he was for the most part a good guy. _That_ much she was glad to know from the stolen memories.

"Yamanaka-San." The boy said, surprised but polite. "What are you doing here?"

"Ahh, sory to come over unexpectedly like this, but I've come to ask-" Something caught her eye behind Naruto: a large backpack that seemed to have been filled with all the essentials for a long excursion. "Are you going somewhere, Naruto?"

The boy's eyes flickered nervously to the side for a moment before he seemed to rally.

"There's nothing wrong with being prepared." He said defensively, folding his arms over his chest.

"Well, whatever. I don't care about that." She pressed on, forgetting the detail int he face of something much more important to her. "I want to give your memories back."

Naruto's face went surprised and for a moment the only thing the boy could do was stare at the girl as he tried to process what exactly it was she was offering. Or at least that's what Ino thought he was doing. The alternatives really didn't appeal to her.

"I don't want them." He answered her, speaking slowly, as if he didn't quite trust himself to get them right.

"What?" The girl said in disbelief. "B, but their _yours_!"

"No." Naruto refuted, shaking his head. "You can keep them. They're yours now."

"But I don't want them!"

"Then you shouldn't have taken them."

"I didn't _mean_ to!"

"And I didn't mean to let you."

"What the hell is _that_ supposed to mean?"

"... I'm actually not too sure." Naruto admitted, looking thoughtful. "But in any case, I don't need or want them anymore. I have new memories, and they are much more precious to me now."

"Listen to yourself!" Ino snapped, her irritation getting the better of her at last. "Can't you hear how different you sound? You've changed!"

"Yes." Naruto acknowledged, nodding his head. "And so can you."

"What?" Ino said, taken aback.

"You can use what you took from me." He told her, studying her carefully. "I'm guessing that you got some of my more... worrying memories? You can draw strength from them."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that _I_ had those memories for all my life, and I never changed. I never gave up my dreams. I stayed Uzumaki Naruto." There was a note of pride in his voice that Ino almost didn't notice. "And now _you_ have some of that will. You can take some of my strength for your own."

The Yamanaka stared contemplatively at Naruto, searching his face for any kind of lie or deception, but it was very hard for her to spot anything. He sounded entirely too _old_ to be spouting this kind of nonsense. As if he'd been waiting for her to confront him with her offer and had prepared those words just so he could persuade her that it wasn't in either of their interests to do so.

"You said you had new memories." Ino accused suspiciously.

Naruto's face took on a hunted look, as if he was suddenly very afraid.

"Yes." He admitted, guardedly. "I made a few bad decisions, and now I am not myself."

"You stole someone else's memories!"

"What?" Naruto blurted, looking at her as if she had just grown a second head. "No! I just- well, if you must know I was tricked by the Kyuubi."

For a long time Ino simply _stared_ at Naruto, a look on her face that spoke volumes. And most of those volumes said something to the effect of '_how stupid do you think I am?'_ on them.

"That has got to be the lamest excuse I have ever heard." She said flatly, frowning deeply. "Of all time, even."

Naruto sighed deeply, a wry grin forming on his lips. "I thought you might say that."

"So what really happened, then?" Ino demanded.

"Let's just say I've had a change of priorities and leave it at that, yes?"

"But how the hell does _that_ help?"

"Listen, just try to find something you can use in them, alright?" Naruto said abruptly. "I'm kind of in a rush here, so if you don't mind...?"

"What?" Ino glanced back at the full backpack, her eyes narrowing as she did. "You _are_ going somewhere, aren't you?"

"No I'm no-" Naruto was pushed out of the doorway by Ino as she burst into his apartment as if she had a right to, looking over the place as she did.

"You've packed all your scrolls, your pictures, and-"

In that moment Naruto panicked, realizing that his plan was coming dangerously close to coming undone. And he was not about to be stopped now, not when he had made his decision.

Ino hardly felt the blow Naruto delivered to the back of her skull before she was knocked out, collapsing in a heap inside the boy's apartment.

* * *

Ino awoke with a groan and one of the worst headaches she'd ever experienced in her life. When she opened her eyes it she realized that she wasn't comfortably back home in her own bed, but instead on Naruto's couch in his apartment.

She catapulted upwards with that realization, remembering just what she had suspected (and, if the way he had knocked her out was anything to go by, confirmed) he was up to.

The apartment was empty of everything that had made it Naruto. All the essentials were still there, as well as everything Naruto couldn't feasibly taken with him, but the general spirit of the blonde had left the building. This was no longer a place where Uzumaki Naruto resided, but rather a place he had left.

She glanced absently at the dinner table at the centre of the room, and was hugely surprised to see a note there. A note with her name written on it.

Curious, she picked it up and read it.

_Dear Ino_

_You've probably guessed by now, and if you haven't then you really should have, but I'll tell you anyways: I've left the village._

_It's important that you know some things first, though._

_1 The Kyuubi isn't in control of me. And if I have my way it never will. The memories I got? They really did come from it. Even if you don't believe me, pass that along to old lady Tsunade! It's kinda important. Stress out the first part. _

_2 I'm not going to work against Konoha. I love this place, and it was a hard decision for me to leave. If I can, I'd like to come back. But until I'm finished it'll be better if people don't consider me a konoha-nin._

_3 I've gone to find a way to seal or destroy the bijuu (they're like the Kyuubi, but with progressively less tails) for good. It'll probably take a long time, so don't expect me back anytime soon! _

_Also,tell the old baggage not to get too comfortable in that office! When I'm done with what I'm doing now, I'll want that hat from her! Believe it!_

_Other than that, I hope my memories work out for you! If not, then at least get used to them! I won't be back in a long time!_

_Naruto_

_Ps. If you could, cold you put a sign on my door? Preferably one that said 'gone demon hunting, back in ten years'? That'd be __awesome__._

Ino stared hard at the letter for a long time, rereading a few times before letting out a long-suffering sigh and getting ready to bring the letter to the proper authorities.

Take strength in his memories, huh? Well, she supposed that she could _try _to. After all, even after she had taken Sakura away from him, he hadn't despaired. He'd just picked himself back up.

Maybe that's what she had to do. Just keep moving, until one day everything made sense.

Or until he got back and she could beat him into submission, then give the damned things back to him.

* * *

**AN:** Well, I hope you've all enjoyed the story. It's been bothering me ever since I saw the challenge, and I'm glad to finally get it out of my system.

The influences from the WoT should be easy enough to spot for a fan. The recurring visions of previous incarnations dying, though the taunting of the primary antagonist ("I win again, Lews Therin." I loved the way that line was given, again and again.) was taken from Rand's character. The 'deal' is of course a parallel of that made by Mat and the Eelfinn, as they both made the same mistake: They failed to mention _whose_ memories would be used to fill the gaps in their memories. It certainly doesn't hurt that the Eelfinn are depicted as having fox-like features.

I'm not quite satisfied with some of the pacing in this fic, as some things move along faster than I'd normally like. I'd have much preferred to make this into a several chapter thing, but I vetoed that notion in the fear that I might convince myself to continue past the point where the story ends. And I didn't want to do that. I wanted a goddam _ending_ to this story before I shoved it onto the internets and made it dance. It ended up taking almost twice as many words as I initially thought it would take (I suck at estimating the lengths of my own stories.) but at long last it's done. And thank god for that. I'd already gotten rid of a whole other plotline that I'd been thinking of putting in at the end, I didn't wanna cut it short by anything _else_.

And yes, I skimmed past the tournament section with little more than a nod towards what was happening. Why? Because it's been done. A thousand times more than necessary, it's been done. I wasn't going to waste another 5k words just describing scenes I had little interest in. You want to know what the Neji/Kiba match woulda been like? Use your imagination. It is about as important to the plot as... something not very important to the plot.

Some people might like to point out that lava requires a bloodline limit to manipulate. (As seen by Mei Terumi.) That might be true, but if so then I would counter that it takes a bloodline limit to manipulate _safely_. After all, it's just rock that's been heated up so much that it has attained a liquid state. And it's been pretty well established that people can do batshit-crazy things with both earth (Sarutobi Hiruzen, for example) and water (Momochi Zabuza). Or does someone want to try and defend making a body of water _form into a freaking dragon and then attack people _a perfectly normal thing to do? It isn't much of a stretch to say that it's possible provided you don't mind being roasted alive.

As for the creature of blades... eh, I've had 'im on my mind lately. I know that many of the deity/powerful entities/whatever are for the most part taken out of Japanese mythology, but y'know what? I like the idea of a creature made up of thousands of bladed edges. The thought makes me smile. Do not ask why. Down that road lies madness. And stabbing.

Now! Do tell me what you thought of the fic, I'd really like to know! Reviews! **GIVE ME YOUR REVIEWS! **_**DO IT**_**!**


End file.
